Watching music videos and listening to music on YouTube is about to change. A flurry of analysis and projection has YouTube losing upwards of $470 million this year. And overwhelmingly, the most watched videos on YouTube are entertainment. That includes music videos, and the record labels are none to happy about it.

Turns out, they are losing (or just not earning) millions because artists’ music videos are getting millions of views and generating zero revenue. So lately Warner has pulled music video from YouTube. Germany and the UK saw all major label video get pulled as well. So, is the same thing going to happen in the US?

At this point, probably not likely. However, the more record labels that pull out of YouTube, the worse off we’re all going to be. Fans, that is. When official videos start disappearing, YouTube will be forced to pull other videos of the same artists. It also could turn out that when labels cut deals with Google and YouTube for “official” music video content, the “unauthorized” ones will start to disappear. And that could include concert footage – bad news for Sound Citizens everywhere.

Of course, this all speculation. But here’s hoping the labels strike deals with someone like Hulu instead.

For good measure, here’s a video from AC/DC. An “official” video from a Warner artist. I guess they haven’t removed everything yet. Let’s hope YouTube and fans keep rocking.

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